Anecdotes

His Best Director Oscar win for La La Land (2016) at age 32, made him the youngest recipient of this award category in the Academy's history (26 Feb 2017).

Graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies.

He is the youngest person to win the Golden Globe for Best Director.

Met his former wife, director-producer Jasmine McGlade, at Harvard University. She was his co-worker on several projects and movies.

He is the son of Celia (Martin), a writer, and Bernard Chazelle, a computer scientist. His father is French, from Clamart. His mother was born in California, to an English-born, Beverly Hills-raised, father, and a Calgary-born, Canadian mother. Damien's mother was later herself raised in Calgary, before returning to the U.S.

Directed 3 Oscar nominated performances: J.K. Simmons, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Simmons and Stone won for their performances in his films.

Brother of actress Anna Chazelle.

Some of Damien's all-time favorites include (film): Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964); (soundtrack song): "As Time Goes By" (from Casablanca (1942)); (movie scene): "Cheek to Cheek" dance number with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Le Danseur du dessus (1935); (line of dialog): "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown" (Joe Mantell to Jack Nicholson in Chinatown (1974); (movie ending) Charles Chaplin's Les Lumières de la ville (1931).

He is the youngest person to ever win the Academy Award for Best Director at the age of thirty-two. The previous record holder, Norman Taurog, had held the title for eighty-six years.

His maternal grandfather, John Sayre Martin, Jr., a professor of English, is the son of John Sayre Martin, who worked for Paramount Pictures in London, and Eileen Earle, who was a stage actress.

Between 2013-2018 (Gravity to Roma), he was the only non-Mexican Best Director winner at the Academy Awards. He was also the only American Best Director Oscar winner between 2010-2020 (The King's Speech to Nomadland).

He has directed two films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Whiplash (2014) and La La Land (2016).

President of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 2023.